Westfield Parramatta is a shopping centre in Parramatta, a city within the Greater Sydney Metropolitan area Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The centre is owned and managed by The Westfield Group. In July 2014, the Westfield Group became two companies Scentre Group and Westfield Corporation. This shopping centre is now managed by Scentre Group. [2] It has a net leasable area of approximately 137,407m² and contains 498 shops built over five levels, making it Australia's fourth largest shopping centre by Gross Leasable Area (GLA).[1]

Westfield Parramatta's trade area population is 665,720; one of the largest markets for shopping centres in Australia, and its 28.7 million customer visits per annum makes it Australia's busiest Westfield shopping centre.[3]

Westfield Parramatta is a super regional shopping centre in the Parramatta Central Business District (CBD). Reflecting Parramatta's status as Sydney's second CBD (being an important economic, commercial and retail hub in Greater Sydney), Westfield Parramatta serves a large resident and worker population; its trade area larger than the average of large regional centers in Australia.[4]

Westfield Parramatta has 5 levels of retail and 9 levels of car parking spread across 5 city blocks. Two pedestrian air bridges connect the central portion of the centre with the western and eastern peripheries.

Level 1 is wholly underground and connects to the Parramatta Transport Interchange. A 3 level office tower sits atop the shopping centre near the corner of Church and Argyle Streets.

The centre features two food courts (levels 1 and 5), two full line department stores, two discount department stores, 3 supermarkets, a fresh food market, an 11 screen cinema complex, a gymnasium and a medical centre among specialty retailers.

The centre houses two McDonald's & Oporto outlets,one kiosk in the lower food court,and one kiosk in the upper food court.

Westfield Parramatta is located in the southern part of the Parramatta CBD occupying a number of city blocks bordered by Church Street, Argyle Street, Marsden Street, O'Connell Street and Campbell Street. It is connected to the Parramatta Transport Interchange and Parramatta railway station via an underground retail concourse and pedestrian link.[citation needed]

The site upon which Westfield Parramatta currently stands has had a long history of retail. In 1933, Grace Bros. opened their first Sydney suburban department store on a site on the corner of Church and Argyle Streets.[4] This block, bounded by Aird and Marsden Streets, was predominantly occupied by retail properties and expanded the Parramatta town centre south of the railway line.

That original Grace Bros. store was later incorporated into the first stage development of the new Westfield Parramatta, opening in 1975 as the largest shopping centre in Australia at the time.[4]

Later stage redevelopments of the sites now occupied by the current Westfield Parramatta involved archaeological digs which uncovered artifacts dating back to the earliest days of Colonial settlement,[4] reflecting Parramatta's history as the second oldest settlement in Australia.

The 1996 redevelopment saw Westfield Parramatta regain its position as the largest shopping centre in Australia, with approximately 127,000m² of retail space (from approximately 80,000m²).[4]This expansion included the development of two separate blocks in the Parramatta CBD west of the main centre. A multi-storey retail air bridge over Marsden Street and Aird Street connected the two new sections to the existing centre's levels 3, 4 and 5. Department store David Jones relocated to Westfield Parramatta from its stand alone store on Church Street in the north of the Parramatta CBD, joining Grace Bros (now Myer) in the expanded centre. Village Cinemas expanded from a 4 screen complex to an 8 screen complex while a new food court and fresh food market were opened on level 5.

In 2006, Westfield completed a major redevelopment and expansion of its Parramatta centre.

A city block east of the existing centre on the corner of Church Street and Argyle Street was developed as a multi-storey cinema and lifestyle complex, connected to the main centre by a pedestrian air bridge at level 4 and an underground retail arcade at level 1.[3] Greater Union (now Event Cinemas) opened an 11 screen complex featuring 3 Gold Class theatres, 1 GMAX theatre and 7 regular movie cinemas replacing the existing Village Cinemas.

At street level beneath the cinemas, and fronting Parramatta's Transport Interchange (redeveloped along with Westfield), is a concourse of restaurants and cafes with direct access to the cinemas via an external escalator.

The underground retail arcade links the centre's level 1 with Parramatta Railway Station's main concourse as well as the Parramatta Transport Interchange. It provides for an extension of the level 1 foodcourt featuring cafes and takeaway food retailers as well as a fresh food market and a mini supermarket.[3] A feature of the redeveloped food-court are the electronic passenger destination indicator boards for services out of Parramatta Railway Station. The existing centre saw minor redevelopment of retail areas adjacent to the new pedestrian air bridge as well as an upgraded facade. The expansion added approximately 70 new specialty shops in addition to the cinemas and close to 200 new car spaces. Following the expansion Westfield Parramatta's gross retail floor area reached its current size of 137,407m² and near 500 stores[3]

The Westfield Group lodged in 2012 a development application with the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure proposing a two-stage redevelopment of Westfield Parramatta.[5]

Stage 1, due for completion by 2016 would see a new level of retail (level 6) built above the existing centre adding 31,495m² of retail floor space, taking the total retail area of the centre to approximately 168,902m², and adding approximately 80 new stores.[5]

The proposed plans are for a relocated Woolworths Supermarket, a new fresh food market, a new discount department store (Big W), new mini-majors and specialty stores and an additional 573 car spaces.

Stage 2 of the expansion proposes a 20 level commercial tower to replace the existing 3 level tower on the corner of Church and Argyle Streets, providing 35,000m² of office space and reaching a height of 100m above street level. Due to be completed by 2021, stage two also sees street activation along Argyle Street with new window displays for Myer and street level cafes with outdoor seating.[5]

In May 2003, the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union took action against Westfield Parramatta's cleaning contractor P&H Property Services, claiming employees are frequently paid late or on returning from vacations, which is in breach of their employment conditions.[6]